Patrick Poole's entry for Oct. 8 in the blog Central Ohioans Against Terrorism is titled: "Hamas in the (Ohio State) House."

The Hilliard freelance writer says that "terror-tied" pro-Palestinian extremists are among the speakers at "The Many Voices of Islam," an event scheduled for Oct. 28 in the Statehouse atrium.

The public forum, underwritten by the Ohio Humanities Council, the Ohio Council of Churches and Muslim groups, is sponsored by the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio to promote religious understanding.

The event is billed as an exploration of the diversity of the Islamic faith in the U.S. and how each sect reflects an American perspective -- not as a dissection of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Poole paints it as something sinister: a gathering of terrorist sympathizers who are being granted "legitimacy" by state officials by being allowed to speak in the "political epicenter of Ohio."

After talking to Poole and event organizers and receiving eight e-mailed complaints, the executive director of the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board asked the State Highway Patrol to investigate the speakers' backgrounds.

But the patrol declined, saying no crime was suspected or had been committed, said spokesman Lt. Tony Bradshaw.

Meanwhile, the terrorism analyst for conservative evangelist Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network has been poking around Columbus for a story on the "radical views" of some Muslims.

There is no story, says the Rev. Les Stansbery, a retired Presbyterian minister and president of the Interfaith Association, beyond attempts by Poole and others to smear Muslims by "spreading hate."

"We don't have any terrorists on our panel," Stansbery said. "I've received e-mails…: 'We're fighting these people, and you're letting them speak.' It's about religious censorship … that kind of stupidity."

Poole, 39, is a 1986 Hilliard Davidson High School graduate who left the area and returned in 2005. He has worked for conservative research groups including the Free Congress Foundation.

Poole's online objections to the Statehouse event have appeared on numerous Web sites, including conservative activist David Horowitz's Frontpagemag.com.

He spends most of his words on scheduled speaker Anisa Abd El Fattah, a Columbus resident and chairwoman of the National Association of Muslim American Women.

Calling her "the foremost spokesman for Hamas in the U.S.," Poole attacks her strong support of a Palestinian homeland and the rights of Muslims to protect themselves and their land from Israelis whom she calls terrorists.

"I've never committed a terrorist act in my life. I have no criminal record," she said. "It's an attempt to shut people up and keep the American people from knowing the truth."

Poole bases his allegation that Fattah is a Hamas operative on her former association with the United Association for Studies and Research, an Islamic research group.

She says she served three months as president of the group and worked as a contractor as director of media affairs. She co-wrote a book with Ahmed Yousef. He now is a political adviser to Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister who was ousted but continues to lead the administration in the Gaza Strip.

Her one-time association with Yousef does not make her a terrorist, Fattah said.

A U.S. Senate investigation found no evidence in 2005 that the United Association for Studies and Research, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other Muslim groups were linked to terrorism financing.

Poole also attacks another Statehouse speaker, Robert Crane, for his "terrorist" ties as a board member of the United Association for Studies and Research. Crane, a former national security adviser to President Nixon, is a Muslim activist who helped found the American Muslim Council.

Poole said he has documented his allegations and objects to the Statehouse as a setting for the event.

"These people are not representative of the Muslim community," he said in an interview. "Most Muslims in central Ohio are just like everyone else … they want to work and not be hassled and want to raise their children in peace, and they don't buy into the terror agenda."

Poole is among those interviewed by Erick Stackelbeck, terrorism analyst for the Christian Broadcasting Network, for a report to be broadcast on Robertson's 700 Club on Thursday on the ABC Family Channel.

In an e-mail, Stackelbeck wrote that he traveled to Columbus "to investigate reports of radical views among some in the local Muslim community."

Asma Mobin-Uddin, president of the Ohio Council on American-Islamic Relations, said she and others have asked Muslim leaders not to speak with Stackelbeck because they object to his portrayals of Muslims.

William Carleton, executive director of the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board, said he reacted out of caution when he asked the Highway Patrol to check the speakers.

But the event is on as planned. As public property, the state is obligated to rent the atrium to any group that obtains a permit and pays the rental fee without passing judgment on their message, he said.